Dark Heresy - Enemies Without : Review

(Open wide and say AAAAAAAAAAGH!)

Enemies without is the second major expansion to the Dark Heresy 2nd Edition game line, dealing with the Ordo Xenos and their eponymous "Enemies Without". Without any further ado, lets delve into it shall we?

Overview :

The Ordo Xenos, or Alien Hunters, are the branch of the Imperial Inquisition that focus on the study and elimination of alien life. Whether Orks, Necrons, Tyranids or any of the myriad minor Xenos races that infest the galaxy, all fall within the remit of the Ordo Xenos and its inquisitors.

Just like Enemies Within this book contains a selection of additional homeworlds, backgrounds and roles as well as new weapons and equipment of both human and xenos origin. There's also a selection of new talents and, just like the previous book, a new investigation tool in the form of Explications.

The book also goes on to provide additional information with regards to the Xenos species that are known to roam the Askellon Sector, as well as a detailed examination of several worlds along with rules for creating characters native to them.

Fluff :

The fluff of the book remains at the high standard set by the Core Rulebook and Enemies Within, beginning with an overview of the history and duties of the Ordo Xenos in general, as well as a brief look at how the Inquisitors and Acolytes of the Ordo recruit their allies and go about their work. In addition to information on the Ordo itself there's also a section looking at the differences between its Puritan and Radical members and how their methods differ, with the famed Inquisitor Kryptman being used as an example of how an Inquisitor can fall from grace. This is followed by information specific to the Askellon Sector, the "Faceless Trade" in Xenos artifacts, those Alien races known to threaten the Askellon Sector, and several historical events linked to the Vaxi Atrocity mentioned in the previous book.

Chapter 3 (evocatively named "The Promise of Xenocide") goes into detail on 5 specific worlds, with my favourite being the Ork infested Feral world strongly implied to have once been a Knight World. Each world has a fair bit of information provided for it as well as a selection of adventure seeds and statistics for local threats. These sections are well written, evocative, and provide plenty of excellent adventure and world building ideas even if you've no interest in running a game set in the Askellon Sector itself.

The planetary information is followed by a detailed look at the Eldar of the Askellon Sector, with discrete sections being devoted to the Craftworld Eldar, Dark Eldar and Harlequins. I'm slightly saddened by the fact that there's nothing devoted to the Exodites, a faction of the Eldar that I'm a little bit in love with. Ah well, at least the book provided statistics for my favourite Aspect Path and their equipment. The Striking Scorpions. With regards to stats it's the Dark Eldar who seem to have been given the most love in this book, with rules being provided for the bulk of their tabletop units. I can understand why, whilst Craftworlders and Harlequins can be friend or foe (though naturally, you should never make the mistake of trusting them in any way) the Dark Eldar are excellent and terrifying antagonists. Though in the right circumstances a mission where the acolytes are forced to either work alongside or make a deal with the dark kin would not be beyond the realms of reason. Hmm... I'll put that on in the ideas folder...

[Girl's Note : No!]

Finally the chapter provides some role playing tips with regards to taking on the role of an Alien and how they'd interact with acolytes. I like this, it's all too easy to fall into "Rubber Forehead Aliens" territory when playing as a non-human, and being provided with a few tips and guidelines on how to properly portray them is no bad thing. Even the Orks, as simple as they may seem, have plenty of potential for complexity and interesting story ideas when utilised properly, though admittedly they're never going to be the focus of a game of social and political intrigue.

...Not that I wouldn't love to see someone try...

As I said the fluff remains well written and interesting. There's plenty in there for player and GM alike, and I'm increasingly fond of the Askellon Sector despite my insistence on only running games set in homebrew settings. Yeah I like to make life difficult for myself...

Crunch :

The second chapter of the book begins with a selection of additional character options in the form of new Homeworlds, Backgrounds and a single new Role. We begin with the rules for Death Worlds, Garden Worlds and Research stations, all of which are interesting options that seem a little more cohesive than those from the previous book, with none of the strange Homeworld Bonuses that I took exception to last time. These are followed by the Heretek, Imperial Navy and Rogue Trader Dynasty backgrounds, which again are solid in terms of both fluff and game mechanics. I have some minor issues with these, such as the fact that all Imperial Navy characters have Navigate (Stellar) as a skill, even if that would be very much inappropriate to their position aboard the ship. These quibbles are fairly minor though and easily house ruled away. Finally we have a new role, the Ace, used to represent elite pilots, vehicle experts, and beast riders, a role that I'm pleased to see added to those available.

This is followed by a brief section detailing some new options for Reinforcement Characters, in the form of the Callidus Assassin and a selection of Xenos the statistics for whom can be found either in this book or the Dark Heresy core rulebook. As we know I'm not a big fan of the concept of Reinforcement Characters so this section is of little interest to me, I did however find the rules of Polymorphine rather more interesting...

Next up is the equipment section, which begins with a selection of high tech pieces of Imperial gear including Digi Weapons, Graviton Grenades and Stasis Cages. The chapter then moves on to detail Xenos equipment, starting with items of Eldar and Dark Eldar manufacture, followed by Ork, Kroot and Necron weapons and wargear as well as a selection of weapons created by minor Xenos races and rules for Jokaero weapon modifications. I really like the fact that the Necron equipment is not named as such, instead being referred to as being derived from "Xenos Weapons Cache D-216-98" and with each weapon being given an Imperial designation isntead of its usual name. For example the Staff of Light is referred to as a Cascade Lance, the Gauss Flayer as an Ablative Projector, and the Tesla Carbine as a Resonance Arc. It's the little touches like this that really do please me.

Moving on, we come next to rules for Aircraft and aerial combat, as well as a selection of new vehicles including Arvus Lighters, Aquilla Landers and Sentinels. I wish the aerial combat rules had been in the core rulebook, but I suppose that introducing them at the same time as the Ace role makes sense.

Whilst Enemies Within had a selection of heretical and warp infused Artifacts for an unlucky band of acolytes to stumble across, Enemies Without provides the Gm with an assortment of Xenos derived relics. Like their Profane counterparts they are (with one exception) unique and powerful items, each of which could easily be adapted to whatever setting the GM favours whilst also being suitable to having entire adventures written with them as the focus.

Next we have a selection of new talents, ranging from the vehicle based Hot Shot Pilot and Push The Limit, to the xenos focussed Xenosavant and Field Vivisection. I particularly like the last of those, the talent in question allowing a character to make a WS (Medicae) test when making called shots against Xenos for which they they have taken the appropriate Forbidden Lore skill. I've already written up an alternate version of this for one of The Girl's characters, a medicae who's knowledge of the human form makes her especially lethal with her selection of surgical tools.

Finally we have the rules for Explications. These are, in essence, extended skill checks potentially taking place over weeks, months, or even years of game time. The rules are designed to allow a party to conduct research into the natures and weaknesses of the foes they face, with the party making skill checks at regular intervals and gaining temporary and permanent benefits as they make progress. The rules are simple but serviceable, and like the rules for Inquests from Enemies Within provide an excellent opportunity for the more knowledge based members of a party to really shine, with their contributions being potentially vital to the parties long term success. After all, the unassuming scholar is more likely to be respected by his fellow acolytes when his research allows the party to develop the deadly toxin that allows them to vanquish the horrific beast that's been stalking them through the abandoned Mechanicus research station.

Art :

There isn't a single piece of John Blanche art in the entire book. Oh happy day! When reviewing Enemies Within I mentioned that a fair bit of art from that book was sourced from previous fantasy Flight publications, and though there are still a few examples here and there it seems that almost all of the art for Enemies Without has been commissioned specifically for this book. I very much approve of that, and its great to see Fantasy Flight hiring new artists and encouraging them to produce new work for their books. There's a lot of talented folk out there who really deserve a lot more recognition than they get. As for the book itself the actual layout of the book remains excellent and all in all it remains a very attractive and well made sourcebook.

Conclusion :

Much like the previous book Enemies Without is a solid supplement that brings plenty of new options to the table, providing players and GM alike with lots of new tools to play around. Again there are a handful of issues, but to be honest they're more due to me being picky than any real problems with the book, and it's well worth adding to your collection whether you're running a Xenos-centric campaign or not. Hopefully Enemies Beyond (which I've already ordered and should be getting my hands on this week) will be of the same level of quality, we shall see.

Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael